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Shortly after graduating from Goldsmiths, in 1989, Hirst began working on a series of paintings after seeing flies get stuck on primed canvases in his Brixton studio. Taking this idea, but wanting to create something beautiful, Hirst started fixing the bodies of dead butterflies to monochrome gloss-painted canvases. The appeal of butterflies is created largely by the appearance of life they retain in death.
Hirst has said, “I think rather than be personal you have to find universal triggers: everyone’s frightened of glass, everyone’s frightened of sharks, everyone loves butterflies.”
The Butterfly works go hand-in-hand with the heart-shaped canvases. Soon after Hirst began working on his now-iconic series of butterfly paintings he shaped the canvas into a heart – the international symbol for love.
